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The V11 is a very different animal compared to the vertical twins "a la Briton". If you are looking for an easy going motorcycle, a 20+ years Guzzi that has not been run for an undisclosed amount of time will take some effort to restore to that careless status. I am saying this because the two Guzzi I purchased had most likely been ignored for some time. My V11 took some looking after before it became reliable. But once I ironed out the typical issues every V11 are known to have, it just works like clockworks. I went from 8k miles to 40k miles. I purchased the bike in December 2020, but only took possession of it in April 2021. The major part of 2021 was used to fix the odometer, the starter motor circuit. Thereafter, it is now a Swiss army knife.

Something important; why do you want to purchase a V11 from the early 2000? One thing we all have in common here, is that we do appreciate the Guzzi, especially the V11. We are willing to be forgiving to the little issues we all have experienced at one point or another. If you are in that category, and you are not simply curious, depending on how much you are willing to roll up your sleeves, those V11 are extremely reliable once you look past the little quirks here and there. You are not listing any other motorcycle in your profile. Is this a "getting back in the saddle"? There is not much you could do wrong in purchasing a V11 anyway. If you jump the gun, people here will help you all the way. Spares are reasonably available by mail order, and flowing supplies are no problem. As an aside, I recently changed the timing chest cover gasket, replaced it with a metallic one. But I ran the bike with the oil seepage for a long time. For the instruments, as Docc pointed out, there are many solutions. I have had my gauges fixed by a fellow in Tennessee who specializes in fixing and making reliable those Veglia Instruments. I also have Veglia on a Guzzi Quota and I got my tachometer fixed in Germany. But you can purchase modern replacements. After, it is a question of what you want to do, for what price. For the rest, I crisscross Texas with my V11 each year without a worry in the world...

My Facom feeler gauges set starts at 0.04mm and goes to 0.10mm in 0.01 increment... Ha!

In Guzziology, the author points out that wear is not equally distributed over the surface, and makes the proper adjustment more challenging.

Shoot! I am going to need to become a MM93 fan, now that he is completely Red! good thinking Ducati for having put Francesco Bagnaia in full white, to have a nice contrast. Here's the link to the MotoGP video, which cannot be embedded; you have to watch it on YouTube. At the end of his first outing, he gives his impressions in Italian to his crew chief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDgrlZvyyDk

You are correct! I forgot to take into consideration the mechanical wear. That should come to play too....

Because in Europe, the decimal separator is the comma. The thousands marker is the period. Remember it when you write your checks.... lol... Whoever made the label was merely copying instructions which may not have been clearly written or with periods looking like commas. What I find interesting in the picture, is that we have a tolerance +/- 0.03 and a temperature reference, even if standard conditions should be the norm: 0 deg C, 32 deg F. If we wanted to be perfect, we would have to convert the lash figures to whatever ambient temperature we have when doing the job.

I think the sprint races were added to get more audience. Before the Saturday shorts, the public would mainly be present in numbers on Sundays. With the additional race on Saturday, they got more people spending the week-end at the race track. Ultimately, they certainly got financial benefits from it, but the initial objective was to get more interest to the MotoGP races. In any case, Dorna is turning over MotoGP to Liberty. They already have changed the logo of the sport. As for the fond, I think I remember times when the championship winner was not the one with the most race wins. But I agree that Bagnaia had a more prestigious season, not reflected in the points. They should maybe change the points for the sprint race.

@audiomick

Not me; Dave Richardson, the author of Guzziology. Believe me, I wish everybody used the metric system. Interestingly, he quotes Guzzi's recommendation in metric units, but convert them into imperial for his readers. Incidentally, while in France I purchased a metric set of feeler gauges from Facom, to stop using my current imperial set. Having worked in the oilfield for 35 years, I have quickly learned that units of measurements are not consistent accross the board. Even with European based Oil Companies, that should all use the standard metric units, there were variations. Since we had to comply to what the client wanted to work with, part of the job was to convert acquisition raw data into client's approved final units. Still today, you have to juggle with this. If you happen to go astray to Europe, you will find out that speed is in km/h, and gas is sold in liters. In Italy, when I was there, oil was sold by weight... just like in Russia with Vodka. Most of us never really face those incongruities since we spend most of our time in our native environment.

In Guzziology, the author explains why one should not use the recommended valve clearance of admission 0.10 mm and 0.15 mm in the US. According to the author, the tighter clearances were Guzzi's attempt to minimize oxides of N2 for emission compliance in the US. The author recommends to always add 0.02 inch to the nominal valve clearances; that would be 0.5 mm and would verify what @Admin Jaap said above in this thread, 11 years ago... The reason why I brought up this topic, is that when I gave my V11 for chest gasket exchange, Davey told me he had checked my valve clearances, and found them too tight. I was surprised since I had scrupulously followed the manual and perfectly set mine for 0.1 and 0.15 mm respectively.

The Diavel never did it for me... if I had to go down the Ducati path, it would most likely be an old air cooled one, such as the 500 Pantah!!! it is red too, and quite something to ride, if you ever tried one... listen to it in the video below: The one in California, in San Diego, I did a quick check to get a flight in and out from H'town to there next week; do you know how much it cost? more than what I paid to go to Paris!!! unreal... and the flights I checked were all from the so-called cheap US airlines. More than my return ticket to Paris, without including the taxes, and all the other hidden costs. So, it looks like I am going to let that cruiser curiosity slowly vanish in what's left of my synapses...

So.... The championship has been attributed; was it who you thought who won? Everybody is already looking forward to 2025 with Marc Marquez.

Since that idea floated around me, I watched and read all the material that I could gather on the Internet. The weight of the bike is a big concern to me. I already witnessed a couple of guys' efforts to bring it upright from the side stand. I also happened upon a guy explaining why he was retiring his (HD) mega cruiser for that same exact movive. Weight! I probably need to temper my enthusiasm, even if none of my current bikes are exactly feather like. My objective is to go and check one out when the opportunity presents itself. There is one in Lemon Grove California sold by a motorcycle dealer. I checked the map, and it is almost a straight line from Houston. The one in Allen is closer to me, but I don't want to deal with a private seller, because at this point I would only check how I blend with the mastodon. However, I do not have the free time to do it immediately, I have got more pressing outings to accomplish. It may just remain a desire which like so many more, I will never fulfill.

As strange as it may be, I am warming up a lot to the Flying Fortress; I thought the Griso was going to be my third and final Guzzi, but it is close to the V11 in terms of spirit. There are some MGX-21s with low mileage around me, slightly North of 10k. Not sure about the weight though...

@guzzler Most modern cars have backup cameras, proximity detection alarms, you would think these kind of accidents would become rarer right? But check out what most people do right the moment they get in their vehicles; they check their phones while they maneuver. At least we don't when we ride our motorcycles.

Crodino too... not as well known as Aperol.... lol...

There is a bar in Italy where the Moto Guzzi serves as lounge chairs. They are drinking Prosecco.

This is the now defunct "Old Gringo" bar and hotel. This is at the very west of Texas, and the owners were biker's friendly. They had a motorcycle exclusive indoor parking!!! a real treat.

Another favorite of mine, this time in Navasota, Tx; The walls are decorated with guitars.

One of my favorite "water hole" in Brenham Texas. The Pioneer BBQ. This used to be a train depot.

This is the U Drop in, on Route 66 in the Texas Panhandle; There is no issue with drinking there, they only serve pop and icecream.

This is where I will eventually take a picture of my Moto Guzzi xxxxxxx (not sure which one it will be). This is the location where the movie "Badgad Café" was shot in Newberry Springs, CA. The town of "Bagdad" vanished as many others that did not survive the decline of Route 66.

Look at what the Chinese are proposing; they are the ones behind Benelli now. Why can't Guzzi do something like this? It reminds me of my Quota; selling for $4595 + the usual US add-ons. This is the Leoncino, but they have a street version too.

I could probably get one, there is some red about it...